Flipped (Super Paper Mario SWAP AU)

The Ghost of the Third Hero (13)

Pierre threw the door to his house open before Peach could even reach up to knock. Though his hood covered his face, the excitement and relief in his eyes was clear.

"You've made it!" the cloaked ancient chimed.

"Yes, and I got chunked, like, five times to do it, so you're welcome," Mario replied with a salty tone. He rubbed his arm as if the small bruise he had received was still weighing him down. Pierre didn't seem to notice the prince's obvious discomfort, however. Or, maybe he did notice and just made the choice not to address it.

"Excellent work!" he chimed. "I can take that Chaos Heart fragment from you if you'd like. That way you don't have to focus on putting it away!"

Peach nodded and held the heart out to him before stilling and briefly drawing back.

"Wait... I thought you couldn't touch it," she muttered.

"Hmm? Oh, of course, of course, I made adjustments though!" he chimed. He held up his hands to reveal a pair of velvet-lined gloves. "Don't worry. I tested them on the other fragments we already have. These are lined with protective spells, so I'm safe so long as I don't hold the heart fragments for too long!"

He seemed to quietly laugh, though Peach shivered from imagining what just might happen if he did. Would he just be consumed by the dark magic and explode or something? 

She slowly started to hold the heart out again when the world suddenly began to shake. It was as if a large earthquake had hit. Prince Mario gasped and grasped Peach's arms as the ground violently shook.

"Hey, it's alright Your Highness," Peach assured him. "It's just an earthquake."

Mario briefly looked at her, then let go and sheepishly rubbed his neck as the shaking slowly came to a stop.

"Heh... right," Prince Mario muttered. "Sorry. Things like this don't happen in the Mushroom Kingdom often–"

"Um, Pierre?" Bleck quietly asked. He fluttered by the window and looked up at the sky.

Pierre's blue eyes went wide as he waved his hand and teleported just outside of his house, stumbling and nearly tripping as he landed. Bleck, Peach, and Prince Mario each rushed outside as well to see what was the matter.

"What is it?!" Mario started to ask when Pierre held up a finger.

"Shh!" Pierre quickly hushed. He remained still as he nodded up to the sky. "Look."

Prince Mario drew back, appalled by the nerve of this guy when Peach suddenly covered her mouth and gasped.

The prince of the Mushroom Kingdom slowly looked up as well.

The bright gash in the sky had at least doubled in size.

"We're running out of time," Pierre breathed. It was clear that he was fighting to keep his tone in its normal cheery state, but the way his voice wavered slightly gave him away. "No pressure, but we need to hurry. I have every bit of faith that you heroes can save us all, but we have less time than I hoped for."

He took a deep breath and held his gloved hands out. "Oh, and before I forget, I just reread part of the Dark Prognosticus. About the legendary heroes, I mean. The book claims there must be four heroes to fight and defeat the one who wields the Light Prognosticus. I... I'm working on finding the other two, so don't worry about that, just continue your mission as usual and I'll have this taken care of, I promise!"

"Four?" Bleck questioned.

"Yes, four," Pierre nodded. "You know, as in two squared. Three plus one. Fifty-two divided by thirteen. Take your pick."